Already endorsed by Mayor Bruce Harrell, Hollingsworth has also added an endorsement from King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay to her roster. The Hudson camp, meanwhile, is hoping to max out on democracy vouchers to keep up

The Alex Hudson campaign says spending in the race for the District 3 seat on the Seattle City Council has reached a new level with her opponent opting to be released from the limitations of the city’s Democracy Voucher program

“We just got word yesterday that the City of Seattle has lifted the fundraising cap for our opponent,” the email sent by the Hudson campaign Tuesday afternoon reads. “That puts us at a significant financial disadvantage,” the fundraising pitch continues.

The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission says candidate Joy Hollingsworth has been released from the “general spending limit.” The change makes the Hollingsworth campaign ineligible to receive any additional funding from Democracy Vouchers but the candidate is allowed to continue collecting vouchers “as a sign of support.” Collecting the certificates can also help kneecap an opponent’s fundraising.

The change comes as the candidates have been close to neck and neck in campaign contributions with Hollingsworth reporting around $187,000 in contributions and Hudson, $157,000 through the latest reporting.

The spending limit for participating Democracy Voucher city council candidates is $187,500.

View the latest totals at seattle.gov/ethics/elections/

The Hollingsworth camp is also seeing its message spread thanks to spending by independent expenditure committees.

A committee from the National Association of Realtors has already supported Hollingworth to the tune of $54,000. Labor-associated groups have pitched in another $18,000.

A “progressive” coalition put up $15,500 for Hudson, her only significant independent expenditure committee contribution. The same progressive PAC, however, also ponied up $8,800 in spending against Hollingsworth.

While the spending on the race has reached a new level, the dollars will likely fall well short of 2019 when a business-backed push against socialist D3 incumbent Kshama Sawant made the election the most expensive political battle in Seattle with more than a $1 million in contributions and spending. Sawant, by the way, was criticized over her refusal to participate in the Democracy Voucher program over concerns that it handcuffed her Socialist Alternative political group’s ability to raise funds.

That year, Sawant’s opponent blamed the influx of cash as he conceded, saying that the massive outlay of PAC spending from the downtown chamber and efforts from the likes of Amazon, Expedia, and Starbucks to back “pro-business” candidates backfired and “played right into Kshama’s hands.”

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